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Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Year

One more reason to wish for a London visit this summer: As part of her Diamond Jubilee events, Queen Elizabeth II is putting some of the monarchy’s most important jewels on display. The collection of the monarchy’s diamond jewelry and precious objects, called “Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration,” will be open to the public at Buckingham Palace in August. According to the palace it aims to explore “the ways in which diamonds have been used and worn by British monarchs over the last two centuries”.

I was looking for info on the Queen's jewelry and realized that the most coveted book on the subject has been out of print for a while. It's by author Leslie Field and called Queen's Jewels: The Personal Collection of Elizabeth II. The scan from the book you see above appears on Amazon and makes me that much eager to find it. I guess I'll have to find a good used copy at some point. I know many of you share this little thing I have for the royal family. Does anyone have other book recommendations?

6 comments:

I have to say I am a huge fan of the Queen and enjoy reading about the history and present day Monarchy. London is a fantastic city and a trip for the Diamond Jubilee would be amazing. Best wishes for a Happy New Year, Gaia!

Might I recommend biblioz.com, they are an excellent online source for secondhand books. I have been using them for years and have always been extremely pleased with their service. Their descriptions of the condition of the books is as far as I can tell very accurate.

I just did a search for this book - Queens Jewels, and there was a very long listing of available copies, many of them in the U.S., ranging in price from approx $70 to high $200s depending on edition and condition.

There was another book published called *The Royal Jewels* by Suzy Menkes. It's probably also out of print but you could probably find it at a used booksite. This book may have more information, but I like *The Queens Jewels* because it has such beautiful color pictures of some of the pieces. I'm certainly happy that I jumped on this when it first came out!

When I was much younger, I had a book - probably picked up at a secondhand store - called The Little Princesses: The Story of the Queen's Childhood by her Nanny, by Marion Crawford. It's an interesting look at how Elizabeth grew up. What's even more interesting is that although Ms. Crawford spent seventeen years with the Royal Family, delaying her marriage until both princesses were grown, upon publication of this book, she was dropped flat by her former employers and charges, who never spoke to her again for daring to share such personal (albeit charming) reminiscences with the unwashed public.

I think what kick started my love of all things royal was visiting London for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in the 70's. I must have been nine or ten, my grandmother took me on a 14-day trip. I still have the picture album and a lifetime's worth of wonderful memories. I also remember receiving my first perfume ever, a violet soliflore in a hand painted bottle. I'm such a nerd about royals but I don't care, it's fun! :)

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